Philly Trans Health Conference 2009 Accepting Workshop Proposals

November 15, 2008

What the title said. From their email:

The Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference committee is currently seeking workshop, panel, and symposium proposals for its 2009 conference. Providers Day [June 11, 2009] programming seeks to provide medical providers, mental health workers, social workers, clergy and educators with the tools that they need to provide inclusive services to transgender individuals and their families. Community Days [June 12-13, 2009] programming seeks to provide community members, families, partners and allies with the tools that they need to succeed and thrive within our community and within their daily lives.

We are committed to providing comprehensive and diverse programming. Our 2009 theme is “Different Paths… One Journey.” In an effort to enhance our offerings at Providers Day this year, we would like to host at minimum two symposiums and two panel discussions.

* Symposiums are geared towards individuals who would like to present information about their relevant research projects. The type of research presented can include: dissertation studies, bachelor/master level theses, need assessments, NIH funded projects, etc.

* Panel discussions are more general in nature and consist of individuals with experience both personal and professional who would like to explore an open dialogue about their experiences, ideas and perspectives with others.
…
Provider’s Day workshops are two hours in length.

Community Days workshops are 75 or 90 minutes in length.

Now, some of you may remember me complaining about the conference this year (before this blog was started). I can go on, at length, about last year’s trans misogyny, and I know multiple people who girlcott it/have done so in the past. I find a number of the organizers obnoxious, and for all that it has going for it, the organizers have more than their fair share of trans misogyny and racism.

That said, the people who go are amazing, and if there’s any trans space that’s ripe for revolution, it’s this one. I’d never met a non- trans woman1 who had more of a chip on hir shoulder than me about trans misogyny before. The conference is free, AND they’ll try to set you up with free community housing if you need it, so all you have to pay for is food and transportation. So, submit your workshops against racism, trans misogyny, assimilation, medical model bullshit–whatever–and if they fuck with us we’ll fuck shit up.

1: I mean a person who’s not a trans woman, (hence the space) but apparently even when I specify this people go right back to assuming I mean cis woman–I DON’T. Is there a better way to make that clear?

Yeah, it is a space with a weird dynamic – it’s so huge, and I think it’s one of the few spaces where (bad dichotomy ahead, but I can’t think of a better phrasing) more politically radical trans people interact with ones who are more invested in the mainstream and providers in positive ways. So, I guess it often feels like problems with the space are surmountable in constructive ways, and have an important effect when they’re overcome – because we’re reaching out to a lot of people when we work on them.

I can’t think of a better way to phrase “someone who isn’t a trans woman” with brevity than that, either, and I think part of the problem is I still do little linguistic shifts between using “cis” and “non-trans” depending on whom I’m talking to, because sometimes I don’t have the energy to stick to “cis” and then have to explain it. Though it seems to be a term that more and more people are using, which clarifies stuff like what you noted.

The only way i can think of to make it clear would be to put in another hyphen between trans and woman (so non-trans-woman) or to enclose the whole phrase in quotes… either of which would be kind of ugly and awkward looking.

If English used compund words the way German does, these sorts of things would be a lot easier…